Pleasants County, West Virginia, Biography of Thomas Browse

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THOMAS BROWSE

Thomas Browse, and Eliza, his wife, in 1830, came from Devonshire, 
England, and soon after purchased land and located on the Ohio River, 
opposite Grape Island, W.Va., building the old farm house now 
occupied by their daughter, Mary E. Holdren, one year before the 
terrible flood of 1832.  He became quite a large land owner, and 
during the fifty years up to his death in 1880, occupied almost 
continuously the positions of magistrate and surveyor in the county 
of Tyler, and in Pleasants county since its formation in 1851.  His 
death occurred at the age of seventy-seven in the Pleasants county 
court house, while on duty as president of the county court.  Of 
their six children, three died in infancy, the fourth, Eliza J., wife 
of Henry C. Creel, died in 1863, leaving one son, Herbert B. Creel.  
The only survivors are Mary E. Holdren and Robert H. Browse, who was 
born in 1838.  He married whilst in England, in 1868, Sarah A. 
Browse, and has since resided at Spring Run station, on the same 
farm.  Of their eight children, six are living:  Janet E., Henry N., 
Mabel E., Robert T., Fannie L., and S. Winifred.  Robert H. Browse 
served in the state legislature in 1877, and is an ardent democrat, 
but has no taste or desire for office.  He was an earnest advocate of 
the building of the Ohio River railroad, and has been a director 
since its opening in 1884.  

From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I; Brant & Fuller, 1891.

(Linda Cunningham Fluharty)